Keys to the Game: Arizona State 2010

Moving on to Arizona State.

The Bears return to the comforts of Memorial Stadium where they have yet to lose to a team not named USC or Oregon State since 2006. It’s a good thing too, because the Bears face a must win situation. With Oregon State on the road looming, and with a home stretch of Oregon, Stanford and Washington, the Bears need to topple the Dennis Erickson’s Sun Devils if they want to keep their bowl hopes on track.

Here’s What You Need to Know
Like Cal, Arizona State has also share 3-3 record and a 1-2 record in conference, with losses to Oregon and Oregon State and a win over Washington headed into last week’s bye. The Sun Devils were close in nearly all their losses, and gave Oregon their biggest scare this season, leading 24-14 midway through the second quarter.

You just get the feeling that the Sun Devils have the chance to turn things around and contend for a spot in the upper half of the conference. The biggest difference from last year’s squad is the new spread offense brought in under new offensive coordinator Noel Mazzone. ASU’s air raid offensive attack is led by Steven Threet, a Michigan transfer who has put up a conference leading 286 yards per game, and is helping ASU to put up points consistently, something they haven’t been able to do since their 2007 season.

ASU’s defense has been notoriously scrappy, and this year is no exception with the Sun Devils ranked 4th in the conference in both total and scoring defense. Their solid front seven is highlighted by DT Lawrence Guy and Vontaze Burfict, one of the most athletically and borederline crazy linebackers in the nation. Seriously, this kid is scary as a true freshman.

Yet, ASU has been its own undoing. The Sun Devils nearly upset Wisconsin, but missed on an extra point. As much as Threet has jolted the Sun Devils previously stagnant offense, he has also been turnover prone, tossing 11 picks for most in the conference. ASU is also one of the most penalized teams in the nation (108th) and has also given up 17 sacks. The aforementioned scrappy defense has also struggled to get turnovers, notching only seven on the season.

So as talented and potent as the Sun Devils have been on both sides of the ball, they have also earned a habit of shooting themselves in the foot.

Here are some quick keys to the game.


Rattle Threet
Steven Threet is a solid passer, and is about as poised as they come having played in a number of hostile environments in hi s young career.

But Threet can also be rattled in throwing ducks and or taking a number of coverage sacks as he often waits a bit too long for his receivers to settle into a zone or get open. He’s fairly accurate in his short to medium routes, but I haven’t been overly impressed with all of his deep balls.

I’d wager that the Bears are going to be switching up zone and man coverage on Threet to keep him off balance with a number of different looks. I’d lean a bit more on Cal doing the former in hopes of forcing Threet to try and dink and dunk a bit in hope of messing up somewhere. When the Bears do play man, except a lot more pressure in hopes of getting Threet to throw before he’s ready and into zones that the safeties might have read before his receivers arrive.

What the Bears can’t afford to do is sit back and let Threet pick apart a Bears’ zone defense apart. Expect to see a similar gameplan as what the Bears brought against Arizona, with a slightly more aggressive look at ASU’s inside running game.

Riley and Company Are Going to Have to Get it Done
For the past few years, the gameplan against the Sun Devils has been fairly similar. Pound the ball and make plays through the air when necessary. The Bears know this and will likely follow suit. The Bears likely won’t see too much success in the run game, and expect the Sun Devils to stack the box against Vereen.

The Bears will try and keep it balanced, but the offensive production will be dependent on their ability to move the ball through the air. Now some may groan and ask, “You mean it’s on Riley?!” Well, partially. The Bears are going to need to come with an intense level of focus in execution. We can’t afford missed assignments on blitz pickups, dropped balls, or whiffed blocks this week. We simply can’t. The passing attack this week will be less about new schemes and more on discipline and focus, something sorely missing last week.

With that said, I expect the tight ends to be a bit more involved, and for the Bears to try and spread the Sun Devils out a bit more themselves. If the Bears can trust their offensive linemen to properly read and pick up blitzes, the Bears will have a darned good chance at moving the chains through the air by thinning out Arizona State’s linebackers in coverage.

Help Sun Devils with Mental Mistakes
The Bears are hopefully riled up and ready to atone for last week’s debacle. They’ll be roaring to go and will hopefully have the focus and discipline to boot. Their chance at winning will be contingent on their ability to perform, and theirs alone.

However, this Sun Devil team is prone to shooting themselves in the foot. While it shouldn’t be a point of emphasis, I’d think the Bears have given thought to getting in the Sun Devils’ heads a bit. See if they take the bait and run in late for a tackle to keep a Cal drive alive, or if different feints on defense might get Threet or an ASU offensive linemen to think twice about their assignments.

ASU’s issues weigh more on their shoulders, but it doesn’t mean the Bears can’t do anything to help propagate that.

Prediction
I’m getting tired of these predictions, because I feel this year’s and last year’s teams have been the most head scratching ones and hardest to figure out. I’m guessing it will be a close one, but again it’s only a guess.

We don’t know which team will show up for this one, but I’m hoping being back at Memorial Stadium will help produce the good Bears. We shall see.

Cal: 31
Arizona State: 27